Cottage Renovations

[OT from cottage renovations]

we don't often get snow this early in the season, and if tomorrow's forecast holds it will be melted before the day is out. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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snowy façade

Center Street

the snow accretes to good effect onto twigs, leaves and berries. 

lonicera

Ridge Road

upper field

the reason for heading out in the first place was to see what effect the snow squalls and lighting were having on the treeline between the upper and (what remains of the) lower fields.  these thumbnails really don't do justice to the moody atmosphere ... click on through for a better view. 

treeline recedes into the snow


the break in the hedgerow

walking on through the break, nearly ignored by a few deer ambling by, for once I found the highway interchange construction project to be neither an auditory nor a visual blight. 

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the upper field's most prominent tree presented a ghostly aspect, snow and light combining in a way that made it impossible to stop for just one image. 

[OT from cottage renovations]

with a Ridge Road cottage porch in the background this plump fellow was munching away on rose hips from the dreaded invasive Rosa multiflora.  with such a cheerful countenance as this how could one complain about its participation in the spread of the pest plant? 

(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)

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upper field

[OT from cottage renovations]

these gerania are sitting in a pot on a stand on the porch of Clearview cottage. 

(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)

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Ridge Road

Geranium

taken at the suggestion of Miyuki-san. 

[OT from cottage renovations]
[crossposted to oldhouses and victorian_house]

another image in the continuing irregular Grove cottage porch series. 

(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)

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Ridge Road

102 - Clearview

[OT from cottage renovations]

as I headed out Friday morning to a difficult and depressing day at the office, it was even harder than usual to leave the Grove with the light so clear and abundant.  this instilled in me a wish -- and resolve -- to get out into that light if it were to last into the weekend. 

it did, and I spent almost all of Saturday just walking around the Grove, seeing afresh what the light can do for the place and, consequently, what the combination can do for my own spirits. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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Acorn Lane

flora incognita: artificia sinofabricans?

the taxonomy of this ornamental species was elusive at best, but I was pleased with the reflection of tree and cottage in its glass marble fruit.  the plastic berries and fabric blossoms will be wanting a bit of dusting. 

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Bittersweet Cottage garden

hydrangea

we've already been touched by a couple of frosts so these hydrangea leaves won't be looking like this much longer.  but there's plenty of texture, shadow and light here, and that one stalk behind the leaf to the L can be made out both by shadow and by translucence. 

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Ridge Road

Phytolacca americana

this pokeweed stem has already set loose its fruit and seeds.  though use depleted for that purpose, it now provides a habitat for the tiny spiders whose webs can be seen against the light streaming across the field and through its structure. 

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Zoë Wadsworth Park

autumnally blooming crocus can be found in a few places around the Grove.  these clusters are near the gazebo.  others can be found near the Circle, where in a week or two a couple of the azaleas will be following a similarly syncopated cycle. 

are these plants out of season, or is it merely the floral embodiment of traditional Grove eccentricism? 

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Oak Street

there's nothing special about this plant, other than what these leaves did with the light.  I didn't need any more provocation than that. 

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upper field

multiflora rose hips


detail

multiflora rose is one of the nastier invasives around -- right up there with bamboo and kudzu.  but that doesn't keep me from falling for its shape and form.  I really should be firmer about these things. 

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I don't know this one either, but it sure does a fine job of catching afternoon sweetlight. 

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1^st Avenue

Mimosa

it can take a lot of work to keep up with the tendency of Mimosa trees to spread all over the place -- it seems one is forever pulling up seedlings.  nonetheless one can admire the luminous quality of the pods from which they disperse. 

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Chestnut Avenue

Callicarpa americana

I was alerted to these by the property owner, who kindly invited me to take these images.  getting the right sun angle entailed two trips back: one in the afternoon and another the following morning. 

the common name for this plant is American Beautyberry or Beauty Bush; the former brings to mind roses and the Grateful Dead.  the berries are wonderfully chromomorphic: lavender in sun and purple in shade.